the air battle began in mid july. >> of 1940? >> of 1940. that is when the invasion scare began. the germans softening them up for the final blow, which churchill never believed was coming. i found that fascinating. he never for a minute believe the germans would invade. he assumed it was a scare tactic to build up the army. it did not help the u.s. was dragging its feet. the final plan, the german plan would be to soften up air bases in late august, early september, crushed the remnants of the raf. it was a good plan. while daring -- goering got pillar's permission to bomb the ports -- bombing was so ineffective for both sides. churchill said, give it back to them. and that was the beginning. so, the blitz starts on september 7 in the evening. the germans came the next 81, 82 nights, something like that. and the terror bombing that they had feared and predicted began. there was no stopping the bombers. the bombers always got through. >> tommy people were killed and wounded in great britain? >> i think about 45,000 londoners were killed. at the end, the v2 rockets came. 60,000 pe